


Bruises

by Zoya113



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Black Eye, F/M, Fluff, Gen, hurt and comfort maybe?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21692671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya113/pseuds/Zoya113
Summary: Emma winds up with a bruise that’s a little too hard to explain to Hidgens, and attempts to cover it up instead
Relationships: Emma Perkins & Henry Hidgens, Emma Perkins/ Paul Matthews
Comments: 7
Kudos: 116





	Bruises

Emma didn’t even need to check her score as she got her test back. She had seen Hidgens marking it in his study when she came over for dinner the night before.   
An A, as she thought. She had studied for days on end for this test, any mark she missed she couldn’t be held accountable for - it would be something like the phrasing of the question or the level of skill required to answer. She knew the material back to front! 

She returned to her seat, confident enough to leave the test grade-side-up so anyone around her could see it. 

She leant back in her chair, arms crossed in relaxation as she watched Hidgens pass through students with their hands raised, answering questions and clearing up confusion. Emma didn’t have any questions, obviously. 

A small yelp broke out from the front of a classroom as a girl turned over her test paper for the grade, her hands flying to her face in shock. 

Hidgens excused himself from his current conversation to race over to the girl before she could cry, kneeling besides her chair to soothe her. 

“Huh?” Emma leant forward, her elbows on the desk so she could lean down and watch. She craned her neck to see above people’s heads in the seat below, watching as Hidgens took the girl’s hand to calm her down. She couldn’t hear what he was saying to her, and she wondered what was going on. 

Emma settled back down in her seat as he finished up with the girl, but her eyes still followed him across the room.   
Was he coming to every student? Or just the ones who needed help? 

Emma found herself raising her hand and she didn’t know what for.   
He was only speaking to students who had questions, those who hadn’t done the test right. In other words, not her. 

She was so lost in her train of thought she didn’t even notice Hidgens walking up the steps towards her seat.

“Yes, Emma?” 

Emma blinked, her mind rolling in blank. She couldn’t even think of the words. 

“Did you have a question?” He was patient with her surprised expression, awaiting an answer. 

“Yes,” she cleared her throat, prodding a finger at the front of the booklet. “Umm, this uh, how much does this go towards our overall mark?” 

His patient smile broke into a more amused one. “Oh Emma! We’ll discuss that later, okay? I’ve got to clear up some questions with some other students, alright? Part C was a little difficult.” 

“I got part C right!” She pointed out.

“Of course, Emma,” he raised an eyebrow, confused. “You did.” 

Emma sunk back into his chair as he turned his back to her to head downstairs, but he stopped at the row of seats in front of her. “Breanna, A+ correct?” He spoke to the girl just one seat in front of Emma.   
“Come to my office after class, I’ve got something for you,” he smiled to the girl as he headed back down the stairs. 

For a second, Emma’s senses just went black. What? If you fail, you get attention. If you do the best, you get attention. So her shitty, regular A meant nothing now! 

Emma held back a small whine. After class, she would go to his office. They would eat lunch together and catch up on what had happened since they last saw each other. 

She briefly considered showing up regardless of the other girl’s presence, but Hidgens was smart and he knew Emma would’ve heard.   
So, as class ended she just stiffened her upper lip and walked past his office without so much as a glance, listening to the A+ girl close the door to Hidgens’ office instead. 

———————————————————

No, she wasn’t jealous. It didn’t matter that it was one of the only things on her mind all night, she wasn’t. 

It was literally part of Hidgens’ job as a professor to talk to other students. So she didn’t tell Paul, it was an inadequate worry.   
It wasn’t like inviting someone to his office once meant he would never talk to Emma again. 

By the time she was ready to go sleep, her brain was tired of the though. She was pretty sure when she got to class tomorrow it would all be normal again, she just wished her head could let it go. 

But the clock just kept ticking on, and Emma couldn’t take her eyes off the time.   
“I’m not jealous,” she had to say out loud to actually affirm it to herself. She sounded ridiculous.

It was just one of those nights she couldn’t get the thought out of her, it was like she had much else to think about. 

Paul was still fast asleep besides her, holding onto her hands that she had wrapped around him.   
Just pressing her head to his back to feel his breathing let her slow her thoughts down, but she wanted to banish them entirely. They were stupid, and childish. 

“Hey Paul?” She mumbled, raising her voice just enough to wake him up and lifting her head up to see if he would wake up.

“Huh?” He rolled over to locate the sound in his only half-awake state. But his elbow caught the side of her head as he turned as she grunted and recoiled backwards, clutching her head. 

“Oh my god!” Paul was shocked awake, sitting upright, his hands trying to find her face in the dark. “Are you okay?”

“Ugh, yeah!” She nursed her eye. “I think you just clocked me, man, hah,” she gave a tired laugh. “Shit! Hope I don’t go blind!” She tried to joke to calm him down. 

“Does it hurt? Hold on, let’s go look at it in the mirror. Can you stand?”

Emma snorted, pushing away his shaky hands. “Paul, of course I can walk. You just bumped me! I’m all good.” She shook her head, giving the side of her head one more rub. “My nose isn’t bleeding or anything, I’m just fine,” she held her hand to her nose for just a second to confirm that. 

“So you’re alright?” His voice was somehow still rich with worry. 

“Yeah! It takes a lot more than a hit to keep me down, babe,” she gave his back a pat. “Go back to sleep, I’m fine.” 

“What did you wake me up for?” He asked, sinking back down with a guilty whine, grabbing on to her hands to lay her down besides him. Once she was back under the covers he brushed his thumb over the side of her face. 

“Oh, you know what? It’s nothing.”   
———————————————————

“Hey Paul? Have you seen my work shirt at all?” Emma called as she rifled through the top drawer. Her schedule was tight on thursdays, it was class in the morning and then straight to work, with maybe five minutes to spare if she was lucky. 

“Uuu I dunno babe! You’re in charge of the laundry! Isn’t it in the top draw?” He called back from where he was making breakfast in the kitchen. 

“Nah, you know, it was the one we were trying to get that coffee stain out of, you know?” She closed the top draw. “Paul?”

“Yeah! I heard you. I dunno babe! Maybe you mixed it in with my stuff? Come out and get breakfast!”

“I think I would recognise my work shirt from your suits, Paul. Give me a second to find my shirt.” She headed across the hall to the laundry to check the drying rack. 

“Found it?” Paul sounded out when he heard the laundry door open. 

“Yeah! Just where I left it! I forgot!” She tapped her forehead, feeling a slight, dull throb as she did so. She buttoned up her blouse, tied the bow, and headed out for breakfast.   
She laughed to herself, whipping out her phone from the pocket of her shorts. “I’ll just text Hidgens to let him know I’ll be running a little late,” she kept her eyes on her phone as she paced down the hall. “‘Sorry Hidgens,’” She narrated the message out loud so Paul could heard. “‘I’ll be a little late, just gotta finish fighting with Paul.’”

“Oh no, Em!” Paul turned the stove off, flipping the eggs he had cooked onto some toast. “Don’t say that, he’ll take it seriously!”

“Nah he knows I’m just joking!” Emma rolled her eyes. “We barely fight, he knows that. ‘Yeah, arguing really bad, I’ll be pretty late.’” She added to the text before sending it. “He knows me. This is just our funny little way of saying ‘sorry I’m late!’” She waved a dismissing hand at Paul’s worries as she pulled out a seat at the kitchen table, texting away. 

“Yeah but you know how much he worries you,” Paul grabbed the pan, turning to the sink to wash it off. “He loves you a lot, you might really scare him saying that.” 

“Oh, d’you think?” Emma crossed a leg over her knee, leaning back in her chair as she reviewed her texts. Some sort of attention-depraved part of her brain wanted to sent a follow up message, just to get an ‘Are you okay?’ text back from him. 

She had to stop herself, she was still being clingy. And she didn’t want to ruin Paul’s image! She hoped she hadn’t done that, she was about to send a text confirming it was all a joke when she heard the clatter of the pan being dropped into the sink.

She whipped around to look at Paul, his hands were empty and his jaw was hanging open with shock. His pupils small and fixated on her face. 

“What?” Emma asked, “what?” She asked a little bit louder when Paul was still too scared to reply. 

“Emma, your eye,” he pointed.

“Aw fuck,” she pieced it together rather quickly, dropping her phone down on the table as she raced to the bathroom mirror. 

There was a dark, purple and yellow bruise around her eye where Paul had accidentally smacked her last night. It was ugly looking, spreading from her eye to temple. 

Paul hurried to the bathroom after her, just entering as she was tapping the tips of her fingers around the bruise to test how bad it was. “Oh man. I’m so sorry, Emma! I really didn’t mean to!”

“Ah, no,” she hissed as she touched it a little too hard. “Shoot, nah. It’s okay Paul, it was an accident. Don’t worry. It doesn’t hurt too badly.” She pulled open the top draw of the bathroom cabinet, looking for her makeup. “I can cover it up. Can you grab me some ice?” 

He nodded, rushing off in an attempt to feel useful as Emma fussed with her hair, trying to see how well she could cover up the bruising. 

“Here you go,” Paul gulped, handing an ice pack over to her. 

She pressed it to the side of her head, gritting her teeth at the frost. “I can cover one of these up pretty easy.” She raised her shoulder up to hold the ice pack to her head as she undid the lid on her concealer, dabbing it onto her finger. “It’s not too hard. I just have to make sure not to touch my face.” 

Paul looked like he was in more pain than Emma as he rested his head on top of hers, watching her dap the concealer over the bruise and blend it into her skin. “Will it go away?”

“Yeah, the ice really helps. Shoot, now I’m really gonna be late. I should text-“ she froze, her shoulders falling and the ice pack dropping into the sick. “Oh shit!” 

“Huh? Is everything okay?” Paul placed a hand gently over where the bruise was. 

“Yeah, oh my god, uh!” She swatted Paul’s hands away. “That text I sent to Hidgens,” she worked a little faster with the concealer. “Hah, uh oh. It’ll all be fine he-“

“Wait you aren’t saying what I think you’re saying right?” A cold realisation sunk into him. He lay his hands down on her shoulders, turning her around to face him. “Emma, are you saying?”

“No! No way, that’s not it. I’ll just explain what happened,” she turned back to the mirror, keeping calm for Paul’s sake. 

“You’re going to say what, Emma?” His voice was clear and measured, and he had to stare deep into her eyes to ensure she was listening. “Paul hit me, it was an accident?” 

Emma winced, realising just how bad that sounded. “No, I won’t say that, I’ll say something like - no, it’ll be fine! I’m covering it up, he won’t even notice! Come on. We’ve got to go, I’ll be late for class.” She shoved the concealer into her bag along side a pair of sunglasses she retrieved from her bedroom, and then they were off. 

Paul helped Emma out of the passenger seat, his hand clutching hers as he walked her onto campus. Almost too scared to let her go. “Just, don’t- oh gosh, oh wow. Please just don’t even mention my name if Hidgens notices. Say you crashed into a pole or something. Hidgens will actually kill me if he thinks I did it I-“ 

“Oh! Hello young man!” 

Emma and Paul both let out surprised squeals as the professor approached them from behind. 

“Hello Paul, mind if I take Emma from you? We’re just about to start the lecture!” He gestured to the packet of papers in his hands. “Are you well, Paul? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost! What were you just talking about?”

Paul couldn’t summon up words to answer that question. “I’m great, it’s nothing. We’re great. I have to run, Professor. Work!” He pointed at the car before bolting off. 

“Come, dear,” Hidgens held out his arm to link with Emma’s, and shyly, she connected with him. “Well you made it on time! So nothing to worry about now. You’re still looking pale, are you sick?” 

Emma shook her head. “No, no it’s alright.” 

“Are the both of you unwell? You two looked frayed. Remind me to check in on you after class, you’ll come to my office won’t you?” 

Emma groaned internally. Yesterday she had been so caught up on wanting his attention and now she couldn’t get far enough away from him. “I’ve got to rush off to work today actually. Maybe another day, sorry Hidgens.”

“It’ll take just a minute, Emma. I’ll drive you over to work. How does that sound?”

“Oh wow,” Emma pulled anxiously at her hair, biting her lip. “Thanks, Hidgens. But I mean, I’m fine.”

“Oh dear, you aren’t upset are you?” He stopped in his tracks. “Is this because I had to speak to that girl after class?” 

“I wasn’t jealous,” she told him. 

“I didn’t say you were,” his laugh was an affectionate purr. “Were you?” 

Emma shook her head. “No, no!” She swatted his hands off her shoulders and speed walked down the path. “I wasn’t, Hidgens!” She shouted back. “Come on, we’re going to be late for the lecture!” 

He was still chuckling as she rushed off, desperate to avoid him for the day. 

She sat further back in the lecture hall than usual, and Paul was texting her throughout the whole lesson. 

‘Emma I’m so sorry’ 

‘Are you okay? Is it hurting yet?’

‘Has Hidgens found out? I’m so sorry it was an accident!’ 

Emma hated how much it was worrying him. It really was an accident, and she was at fault as well. She shouldn’t have woken him up in the middle of the night.

‘Don’t worry babe!!! It’s all good I know it was an accident don’t worry about it! Hidgens has no clue, I’ll rush off after class promise, you can calm down paul’ 

But she found herself playing with her hair, trying to get it to fall properly over her eyes. By the end of the lecture, it had been a little longer than two hours and the concealer wasn’t holding up as well. And the amount of times she had touched it probably wasn’t doing it any good either. 

She collected her things quickly, trying to pack her bag before Hidgens could find her to check up on her. 

She managed to sneak out with the crowd of students pouring into the halls from the lecture room, keeping her head low and her hand to her eye, and she was so sure she made it until she heard his voice from behind her. 

She turned around, looking just about as guilty as Paul had. “Sorry, professor, I forgot about the whole... check up thing.” 

“What are you doing?” He asked, his hand cupping her chin to get her to look up. He gave a bothered look at the hair covering her eyes and moved to swipe it away before she could give him permission.

Emma wanted to flinch back, but that wouldn’t help her dowse any suspicion. She was relieved the concealer was still holding up well enough.

“Oh! Sorry dear,” he gave his own sigh of relief. “I thought you were hiding something. I’m a paranoid old man, aren’t I?” He put his arm around her shoulders to usher her off to his office. “Come on. I’ll just take a quick check up. You’ll make it to work in no time.” 

“Ooh, okay Hidgens. But it better be pretty quick because Nora hates it when I’m late!” She knew the first thing about selling a convincing lie was to go along with it. She couldn’t give him any reason to worry.  
She hopped up on his desk, swinging his legs below the table. “Okay so, let’s get it over with right?” She rolled up the sleeves of her jacket.

He kept giving her fleeting yet curious looks. “I’ll drive you to work, dear. We don’t have to rush it. Don’t panic, your blood pressure will go up,” he warned as he put a finger to the pulse on her wrist and the other to the nodes of her neck. 

Emma waited with baited breath for the result. She could lie with her words all she wanted, but she couldn’t trick her body into calming down. 

“Incredible!” He gave her a shocked look, wiping his his hands together. “Dear, your heart rate is much higher than usual! Are you sick? Or are you stressed?” 

“I’m just a bit stressed yeah, about getting to work,” she told him. Half of that was true at least. 

“Emma, I can tell when you’re lying.”

“What?”

“Are you sick again? You have to stay home when you’re sick, Emma!” 

Emma gasped. Well, he was onto her, but   
he didn’t quite hit the target. So she played along, pulling out her sick act and coughing just for good measure. “Oh Hidgens. It’s not a big deal! I’m fine!” 

“Is that why Paul had to drop you off? You were so distracted during class today. Maybe you should have a quick lay down before work.” 

“Oh. No, it’s all fine Hidgens. I should probably just head off to work. How about we head off?” 

“Oh no,” he tugged. “Allow me to finish my check up. And then we can leave.” He held a hand to her forehead for a little longer than usual. “You don’t have a temperature. Hm.” He put his other hand to her forehead, and the grunted.

Emma was starting to get fidgety with his hands so close to her bad eye. The anxious sweat breaking out across her skin was probably already working at her concealer. 

“Yeah, see? I’m not that sick. Let’s get going. Look at the time.” The attention felt nice, she wouldn’t lie. But she couldn’t accept it right now. 

“What’s the persistence for, dear? We’re getting there.” He pulled back, but he wasn’t done yet. 

Emma knew the next part of the check up. He would always pull lightly at the skin around her eyes to check the tissue under her eyelids. She held her hand up by her face to push his hands away when he attempted to do so. “I’m alright, Hidgens.”

“Emma, it’s always so obvious when you’re trying to hide something but I just can’t tell what it is!” He tested the eye she wasn’t covering, but his other hand pressed up to the other side of her face to hold her still. 

She didn’t twitch at the pain, but when he was finished her checked his thumb. “Sorry dear, I didn’t know you were wearing make up today,” he wiped his thumb down on a tissue and Emma held a hand to her eye, catching a quick look at herself in the reflection the his shut-off computer monitor on his table.   
The concealer was coming off, and the bruise was almost entirely visible. 

She fussed her hair back into place to cover up most of the mark. “All done. Let’s shoot.” She picked up her bag, searching about for her concealer and walking a few paces behind Hidgens to try and apply it before they got to his car. 

“Be sure to let me know if you’re feeling sick at work, okay? I’ll come collect you.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’m only a little bit sick,” she lied. She looked up from her bag, a dab of concealer on her fingertips. She tossed her hair out of her eyes to apply it but then she noticed Hidgens looking at her. Frozen in his tracks. 

“Where’d that bruise come from?” He asked. 

“Oh! Crashed into a pole,” she answered all too quickly. “It’s an ugly looking bruise, it’s just better to cover it up,” she swerved around him to try and persuade him to keep walking. 

With each second Hidgens’ face darkened with realisation. “Emma, how did a pole make that happen?” 

Emma shrugged. “I don’t know, but it did, right? God, it hurt like a bitch though!” She laughed to play it off.

“Good god, Emma stop walking off on me. Get back here,” he ordered. “Where did you get that bruise?” 

His ability to see through her lies was almost a super power. “It was just an accident, Hidgens. My dumb fault. We’ve got to get to the car so we can go.” 

“An accident Emma?” He strode forward, overtaking her in just a few steps and standing in her path. “Emma,” it was almost a plea. 

She was so busy assuming he’d be mad at Paul that she didn’t even take into account how worried Hidgens would be. 

“Emma, this has nothing to do with your fight with Paul, does it?” 

“Oh! Hidgens no!” She shook her head, raising her voice too loud. “Hidgens, that was just a joke! You know, a little ‘I’ll be late, don’t blame it on me’ sort of thing!” 

“Emma a pole didn’t do that to your eye. What on earth happened?” 

She just kept shaking her head. “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. So can we just go?” 

“Emma, you show up with a black eye and you think I’ll just let that go? Did Paul do that to you? Did someone hurt you?”

“Oh boy.” Emma gave his chest a gentle push. “You lose faith in Paul really quickly don’t you? I swear that message I sent was just a joke. Paul has not punched me in face, Hidgens. I’m completely fine with Paul,” she slowed down her tempo so he knew not to panic. 

“Emma. Get in the car right now. Come on.” His own eyes were just ever so slightly watery, his firm tone starting to shake with worry. 

“So we can go to work?” 

“I’m dropping you off at work and then I’m going to go find Paul. I just want to talk.”

Emma stalled getting into the passenger seat in hopes she could convince him to calm down. “Okay, okay Hidgens! Just listen, this isn’t Paul’s fault-“

“Then who’s fault is it Emma!?” He got his keys into the ignition on the first try and that made Emma whine. 

“Okay, you need to stop shouting and driving and just hear me out really quickly okay?” And yet Hidgens still leant across to put her seatbelt on when she didn’t do it herself. “Hidgens!” She shouted.

He put the breaks on his anger to make eye contact with her for just a second.   
“I’m listening.” 

“Alright. Hear me out because I know you’re going to cut me off. This is going to sound really bad but it‘s just a funny story! So basically, it was really late at night so it was an accident! It was mostly my fault. But Paul-“

“So it was Paul!” 

“I said don’t cut me off!” 

“No! We’re going right now!” He shifted the car into drive and pulled out from the parking lot and onto the road. “I’ve heard you say the exact same thing about your father, and I’m not watching you take this path! It’s not your fault at all Emma!” 

“No!” She was almost breathless from the shouting she was doing to speak over the distressed man, but maybe she could still use it to her advantage. “Hidgens pull over!” She requested. 

He kept driving, but glanced over to check her expression. 

“Hidgens I said pull over!” She breathed in and out a little quicker. “All this yelling and shouting is scaring me!” She pulled her legs up onto the seat to huddle up in what she hoped looked like fear, and sure enough Hidgens pulled over. 

“Are you okay? Are you alright Emma? I know this can be difficult but I can fix this for you if you let me!”

With his hands off the wheel Emma lunges out to grab the keys from the ignition, snatching them and putting them in her pocket. “I told you to stop driving!” She warned, her voice rough from yelling.

“It really isn’t Paul’s fault, Hidgens, I’m being serious!” She was tired of raising her voice, and hoped the emotion in her eyes could help sell her point for her. “I woke him up in the middle of the night and he accidentally elbowed me because I had my head up. That text I sent you this morning was just a coincidence, I hadn’t seen my eye yet and I thought we were just playing.”

He must have understood the worry and stress in her eyes because he sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Do you promise?” 

“I promise, Hidgens,” she took his hand. “There’s nothing bad going on.”

“You can tell me if there is, Emma. I know you love Paul but I can’t let you do that to yourself. Can you look me in the eyes and tell me you’re okay?” 

“Yes, Hidgens,” she tilted her head up, maintaining eye contact with him. “Everything is fine.”

He grumbled a little before holding out a hand to make a request for his keys. “You have to understand I’m still going to have a chat with Paul. And I’m going to be checking you for any more of that makeup again for weeks!”

She gave a bashful, solaced laugh. “Yes Hidgens. I understand that.” 

“I understand it’s invading your privacy dear. It’s the last thing I want to do,” he began as he pulled back out onto the road. “But aside from Alexa, you’re all I have left. I worry, Emma. What would I do if something ever happened to you?” 

Emma’s cheeks dusted pink and she let out a tiny laugh. “I’m sorry I worried you.” 

“I’m always worried for you Emma, that’s my job at this rate.” Worry weaved its way through his words, hiding in the intonations and pauses. “I didn’t even realise I must’ve hurt your feelings when you couldn’t come to my office yesterday.” 

“Oh, no Hidgens don’t worry about it,” she wasn’t as bitter after hearing those words.   
“I know it’s your job. I’d be a bit of an asshole if I didn’t let you talk to your students, man,” she snickered. There was no more hurt left in her after receiving her dose of attention. 

Hidgens heaved another sigh. “The day I stop worrying about you is the day I die, Emma. I don’t want to smother you, but sometimes I can barely help myself.” 

Emma brushed a stray lock behind her ear. “It’s okay. I never mind the smothering,” she rolled her eyes away from him to work up the courage to continue. “Not at all. Uh, funny story, I was waking Paul up last night because I couldn’t sleep. I was actually just a little bit jealous,” she quietened her voice in hopes he would maybe let the latter part slip by. “That you were giving so many other students attention after that test.” 

“So we’re even?” He asked. 

“Yeah. We’re even.” She hoped that wasn’t too strong of a confession. 

“Emma, I wish I had more time to share with you, but aren’t we both so busy?” He commented upon their arrival at Beanies. “I’ll pick you up from work tonight dear. Let’s have dinner together, okay?” 

“That sounds great, Hidgens,” she smiled back at him as she got out of the car. “Don’t give Paul a hard time, by the way,” she added as she remembered where he was headed to next. 

He chuckled. “I’ll do my best. See you after work Emma.” 

She walked into Beanies, butterflies in her stomach. 

‘Hidgens is coming to talk w u’ she text Paul before tucking her phone into her pocket. 

“Oh Emma, you’re finally here,” Zoey looked up from the breakroom table and her jaw dropped. “Ouch. Do you need a hand covering that up?” She gestured to her eye. “That’s a gross bruise.”

It was a blunt statement, but at least she didn’t have to explain herself. “Yeah, Thanks Zoey.” 

Zoey fished around in her bag for her makeup pouch. “God girl, did you walk into a pole or something?” 

“Is that what it looks like?” 

“Yeah, totally. What, you expect me to believe Paul did that to you?” 

Emma cackled, sitting down to let Zoey cover up the bruise with some more professional make up skills. “You’re a legend, Zoey. Do I ever tell you that?”

“Oh, not at all. Your phone is buzzing by the way.” 

“Oh!” Emma almost always tuned out her text tone. She pulled it out as she leant in to Zoey’s touch. 

‘Babe wait what’

‘What do you mean is he mad’

‘Did he find out?’

‘Emma why aren’t you replying I need to know if I have to get out of here is he angry does he think it was me’ 

“Hah, oh shit,” she was so relieved herself she hadn’t even stopped to explain it to Paul. 

‘ur all good Paul he knows what really happened’

Zoey’s fingers dusted lightly over her temple as she applied some sort of feather-soft brush. “You didn’t give the concealer any sort of base, Emma. That’s just the basics, of course it wore off.”

“Thanks, Zoey,” she gave an entertained roll of her eyes. 

‘And yet he’s still coming to talk to me??   
:( If If I end up dead under mysterious circumstances let the courts know I’m blaming Hidgens >:(!!’

‘You’ll be fine babe he just wants to check on u, we both love u don’t freak out’ Emma replied 

‘Love you too I’ll text you if I make it out alive’ 

‘Don’t be dramatic <3’ she put her phone away. She could deal with the fallout after her shift was over. 

“There we are, that’s looking better, isn’t it?” Zoey put a hand on Emma’s cheek to tilt her head to get a look at her handiwork. “You can barely tell. Don’t try doing it on your own again. I’ll fix you up at the start of your shift. Now go out to the counter there’s probably people waiting,” her time changed quickly from friendly to scolding, but Emma didn’t care.

Things were really fine. And she had tonight her dinner with Hidgens to look forward to as well.   
It’d be a long shift, but she wouldn’t mind at all.


End file.
